Nasty Rivalry
by Bay Alexison
Summary: The Devil's Nest gang confronts the owner of a rival bar and tension rises between them.


**Author's Note: **Wow, it's been over three years since I last wrote for FMA! Anyways, I wrote this short piece for the Devil's Nest Zine over at Tumblr. It was such a joy collaborating with everyone on that project, go give them some love too!

Xxx

Bido followed behind his friends as they made their way through the alleys of Dublith late in the evening. Most of the shops were closed, but there were some restaurants and bars still open for business. Everyone that they had passed by would give them curious glances and then ignore them.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Bido asked in a scared voice, fidgeting his fingers.

"Greed wants us to go to The Frosty Vikings ourselves," Roa said. "We must show the owner that we don't want him bothering us anymore."

"Right!" Dolcetto said. He slammed his clenched fist on the palm of his other hand. "I want to give the dude a taste of my sword's blade!"

The Frosty Vikings was a rival bar to The Devil's Nest. On occasion the owner would have his men come and leave a mess. Broken bottles, scaring customers with rats, graffiti on the walls… Bido sighed and shook his head.

"I know. Still, what if something goes wrong?"

"No need to worry," Martel said as she slung her arm over Bido's shoulder and patted his chest. "We got the proof right here."

Bido gave her an uncertain look, but he trust that Mr. Greed and his friends knew what they were doing and nodded.

They continued on, and shortly after they stopped at a building to their left. A few people with bottles on their hands were outside by the door. Bido looked up to see the sign, "The Frosty Vikings" on the roof, and he stepped inside with the others. The smell of smoke and alcohol made Bido's nose wrinkle even though he was used to that back in their bar. Half of the tables and stools were filled with the customers conversing one another in low voices.

Dolcetto sniffed around and his face perked up. "Hey, there's him!" He pointed to one man with two guards just as they were entering another room.

"Let's go," Martel said. Dolcetto and Roa nodded while Bido's face tensed.

They approached the door and Roa knocked on it. One of the guards opened it and crossed his arms against his chest.

"Can I help you?" he asked, glaring down at them.

"We're here to see Mitchell," Roa said. "You guys have been destroying our bar and we would like that to stop."

The guard's mouth twitched and he raised a brow, then he snorted. "Oh, you lot are from The Devil's Nest, huh? Don't think he's interested."

At that instant, Martel pulled a knife from the pocket of her pants, tugged at the guard's clothes, and held the weapon near his throat. Seeing that made Bido's stomach flip, and he glimpsed back to see the attendees staring at them.

"You take us to him right now, or there's gonna be hell to pay."

The guard didn't flinch, but he seemed to regard her seriously. He pushed Martel's hand away from him. "Fine, right this way."

They followed the guard into the room, and Bido jumped when the door was shut behind them. Mitchell sat in front of the desk with his guards behind him, narrowing his eyes at everyone.

"Well well, it isn't the clowns from that bar. Come to cause some trouble, huh?"

"Because of your rukus, you drove away our customers!" Dolcetto said with a sharp look. "No one's recommending our place anymore."

Mitchell flinched his head back slightly. "You do know there's more than one bar here in Dublith, right? It's only natural for us to be rivals."

"We're fine with some friendly competition, but constantly disturbing us is a bad move," Martel said. "That needs to stop now."

"And you think I care?" Mitchell grunted and leaned back against his chair. "The Devil's Nest is a dumpster, and your owner is nothing but a lowlife freak!"

Already Bido's blood boiled. "I won't let you get away with insulting Mr. Greed like that!" he snapped, taking a step forward. A hand squeezed his shoulder, and Bido looked up to see Roa giving him a stern look.

"Don't," he said in a firm but calm voice.

After taking a few deep breaths, Bido relaxed and the tension on his shoulders eased. The guards snickered while Mitchell cracked a wicked grin.

"Should've known you guys have a soft spot for him. What did he do to have you as his fans?"

"He took us in when we didn't have anywhere else to go," Roa said. "A place to eat, sleep, and get drunk."

"Without The Devil's Nest, I wouldn't have met these guys in the first place!" Dolcetto grinned, pointing at everyone behind him. "Of course we're gonna stay loyal to our boss until the end!"

A deep frown crossed Mitchell's face. "And what's Greed going to do about stopping me from ruining his bar?"

Roa, Martel, and Dolcetto exchanged confident looks at each other. Cold sweat ran through Bido's back when Dolcetto nodded at him. He swallowed hard and took out a photograph that was hidden under his tattered clothes and put it on the desk. It was a shot of two men, one handing a stack of cash to another. Mitchell raised a puzzled brow.

"What's this?"

"We know that you like to take bets on boxing matches," Martel said, her finger on the tip of her blade and her chin up. "However, some of those fights have been rigged."

"Bido and I happened to come across one of those fights," Dolcetto said as he reached Mitchell's desk and rested his elbow there. "Would've been a great one if Jeremy didn't take the fall."

Bido remembered that fight well. He and Dolcetto went to one of the gyms that hosted boxing matches fairly often. Before the match between Jeremy and another boxer was to start, they found him and Mitchell together in the alley and Bido took the picture. They were able to get away before being noticed.

One of Mitchell's eyes kept blinking and he gritted his teeth. "And what you'll do with those photos?"

Dolcetto shrugged. "Who knows. Maybe to the organizers, the boxer you had bribed, the military police… What you have to say now?"

The guards cracked their knuckles and approached them. Dolcetto and Martel took out their sword and knife respectively, Roa held his fists up, and Bido shook and glanced at everyone. A fight was about to break loose, but then Mitchell whistled and everyone turned their attention to him. He rose out of his seat, a tight expression on his face.

"Will you guys not show that photo to anyone if I leave you alone?"

"That would be appreciated, yes," Roa said with a curt nod.

"Fine, I'll tell my men to stop." Mitchell waved them off. "Now get out and don't step in my bar ever again!"

Everyone grinned in satisfaction. After they stepped out of the office, Bido was caught off guard when Dolcetto slapped his back and laughed.

"Thank goodness you took that photo!"

"Yeah man, without that we wouldn't have convinced that dirtbag to leave us alone," Martel said.

Bido's face flushed. "I only did it because Mr. Greed overheard the owner making some shady bribes."

"Even then, you should be proud." Roa's smile grew wider.

It wasn't often Bido get compliments like this, but when he does it left a warm feeling inside his chest. His face brightened and he nodded.

"You guys are the best!"

"Come on, let's head back to the bar and get drunk!" Dolcetto cheered, pumping his fist in the air. Roa and Martel had similar enthusiastic reactions while Bido grinned throughout their way back to The Devil's Nest.

Nights like these made him feel that he truly belonged in this family.


End file.
